OLD BRIDGE — Minutes after arriving at the scene, police could see three bodies lying motionless in the aisles of Pathmark following the homicidal rampage that rocked the state two weeks ago.

But as police tried to sort through various pieces of information from 911 calls, as well as from employees who escaped the store and their own visual reconnaissance, they waited almost two hours before entering the supermarket on Route 9 in Old Bridge.

At the same time, investigators Sunday said there had been no argument, no discussion and no fight that precipitated the deadly incident. Instead, they concluded that alleged shooter Terence Tyler just walked off the job — looking angry, according to one co-worker — before returning a short time later dressed in Marine Corps-issued desert fatigues and carrying a WASR-10 assault-style semi-automatic rifle.

He then opened fire, targeting nobody in particular, they said, killing two other co-workers he may not have known, before taking his own life.

These are among several new details the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office released Saturday, breaking a two-week-long silence on the killing spree.

Separately, three law enforcement sources say Tyler killed himself after his assault rifle jammed while still holding several rounds of ammo. Why he shot himself apparently in midrampage has been one of many puzzling details in the case that left 18-year-old Cristina LoBrutto and 24-year-old Bryan Breen dead.

In a statement the prosecutor’s office issued late yesterday afternoon in response to a series of questions by The Star-Ledger, investigators revealed that Tyler obtained the rifle and two other weapons — the gun he used to shoot himself, and a shotgun — in California, where he had served as a Marine.

They said Tyler, 23, joined the Marines on March 24, 2008, with a four-year commitment, but was honorably discharged on Feb. 27, 2010, for medical reasons. The prosecutor’s office would not reveal what those medical reasons were, however family members have said Tyler suffered from depression. The Marine Corps has declined to answer questions about Tyler’s separation from the service.

The rifle, a WASR-10 — a Romanian variant of a Kalashnikov — was illegally modified, the prosecutors reported. Authorities said Tyler also misrepresented certain details in applications to purchase the guns while in California. According to officials, the WASR-10 is illegal in New Jersey.

Tyler, whose uncle has said he had helped him get a job at Pathmark on the midnight-to-8-a.m. shift, first began working at the store on Aug. 20. Investigators said he reported, as usual, for work on Aug. 31.

“At 3:30 a.m., with no discussion or known conflict with any of 12 other employees working the overnight shift, Tyler left the store,” the prosecutor stated. “The investigation revealed that he drove to his home in Old Bridge, changed into military-issue desert camouflage clothes and returned about 30 minutes later with the three weapons.”

Contrary to initial reports on police dispatch tapes, he was not wearing a bulletproof vest.
The prosecutor’s office said Tyler exited his vehicle, began firing the assault rifle as he headed toward the supermarket and aimed at an employee, but missed. The employee, standing outside the store, ran inside and warned co-workers.

According to the prosecutor, Tyler entered the store and continued firing at employees.
“It also was determined that Tyler had no intended target and fired randomly,” said the statement.

LoBrutto, a recent high school graduate who was planning to go to college, and Breen, a veteran Pathmark employee, were price changers who had never worked with Tyler before, said a Pathmark employee who had worked in the store.

The Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded Breen died instantaneously and that LoBrutto died seconds after being shot. Each died from a single gunshot wound, the medical examiner’s office reported.

Tyler fired 19 shots from the WASR-10. Police also recovered 281 rounds of ammunition for the rifle. Minutes after the shooting began, he shot himself once in the head. A shotgun was later found in his car.

In the recordings of 911 calls to police, released last week, one unidentified store worker told operators that he thought Tyler had walked off the job that night.

“He seemed very angry tonight. He didn’t say anything to me whatsoever. He walked right past me,” said the caller. “He was working and all of the sudden he left and I said to the guy who I was just talking to, I said where did Terence go? We just thought he quit. He walked out.

“All of the sudden we started hearing shots.”

Tyler’s uncle, Christopher Dyson, who has been employed at the Pathmark for seven years as a maintenance manager and had gotten his nephew the job there, said he heard nothing about an incident or altercation that might have preceded the deadly shootings.

“Everybody I talked to (in the days after the shooting) said everything was cool,” he said late last week.

Prosecutors said the decision to release additional details of the shooting Saturday came “after weighing the legitimate public interest against the privacy rights of the families of the two victims” who were shot and killed by Tyler.

But questions remain about the response by police, who waited more than 90 minutes after arriving at the supermarket to enter and search for victims and those hiding throughout the store — including several who locked themselves inside a refrigerated storage room.

Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan has not responded to repeated inquiries about what took county SWAT teams so long to enter, even as they acknowledged Saturday seeing three bodies down on the floor from the outside of the store.

A review of dispatch recordings made the night of the shooting shows police knew there was someone down on the floor of the store within 30 minutes of arriving on the scene, calling for first aid, but they did not attempt to enter the supermarket for more than an hour.

Last week, Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office, said there were no state guidelines for handling an active shooter scene, but added that officers are taught that if they don’t hear gunfire they should wait before entering a facility. He said the protocol typically is to seal the scene, create a perimeter, try to make contact with the people inside and wait for a SWAT team if there’s a hostage situation.

According to the dispatch recordings, there was a call within 15 minutes of police arriving on the scene for an ambulance:

“Headquarters, we need first aid up here, dispatch immediately on the perimeter,” called one officer on the scene. “First aid and medical. It appears that we have a subject down, possibly a victim, in Aisle 11.”

Courtesy of the Dyson familyTerence Tyler (right) with his sister, Fatima Dyson. Authorities say Tyler shot and killed two Pathmark employees and then turned the gun on himself last month in Old Bridge.

According to the prosecutor’s statement, police did know people were down, saying, “Through visual observations made from the front and rear of the store, police were able to determine that there were three people, motionless and showing no other signs of life, in the store.”

The prosecutor’s office said only that during the standoff, the police worked to sort out “numerous and conflicting reports,” including whether there was more than one gunman, their possible location, as well as whether anyone was injured or held hostage. Police said they cordoned off the area, assisted employees fleeing from the store and questioned potential witnesses in an effort to determine the number and identities of people remaining in the store.

Indeed, on the dispatch recordings captured that night, police were trying to get a read on what was happening inside, based on whatever they could glean from the employees still hiding throughout the store.

"Headquarters, how many people in the store? Anybody shot?

Headquarters, any idea where he is in the store?"

“No, the caller we have on the line can’t give a location on him,” the dispatcher replied.
We need to get a location for where he was in the store and if there are any victims.

“The caller does not know if he’s still inside the store,” she reported. “He did state a few minutes ago that he heard another shot fired, though.”

The incident at Pathmark ended when members of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Special Operations Response Team, or SORT unit, were contacted and ordered into the store at 5:45 a.m.—an hour and 45 minutes after the first calls of gunfire. They found all three individuals dead. Two employees, who were unable to flee and hid in the store, were found, unharmed.